Am never quite sure what to do with belly pork as I love the taste and it's nice and cheap, but chewing through the fat does put me off. This recipe seems to have made the fat disappear quite nicely so I think it's a good-un.
First I whacked the oven up nice and hot - to about 200 degrees C. Then I chopped carrots into sticks and layered them on the bottom of a roasting dish, with just a very little bit of oil and some S&P.
Then I made a marinade - oil, chinese 5 spice, crushed garlic, runny (or melted) honey. You will need quite a thick marinade so that the pork is well coated. Then I chopped the pork strips into about 2 or 3 inch pieces and covered them liberally with the marinade. Them I laid each piece of pork fat side up on top of the carrots.This went into the top of the oven for 40 minutes in which time the fat went crispy and caramelised - and the meat stayed juicy, and all the tastiness ran into the carrots!
This was an invention and a bit of a gamble that paid off nicely - we had it with homemade potato wedges.
Ant-O-Meter score: 4 leaves!
Sunday, 1 May 2011
It's all about pork! Sticky plum and ginger meatballs! MMM MMMM
Due to a shopping oversight last week my fridge ended up with both pork mince and strips of belly pork in it this week.
The mince had to be eaten first and it just so happened that I needed something quick on Monday night. So sticky plum and ginger meatballs it was! First I put some plain basmati rice on to cook.* I then put the mince in a bowl with a good amount of pepper, salt and ground ginger, and a crushed clove of garlic. Using hands I mashed and squidged this all together. Then put a frying pan on the heat, with some oil, I rolled small pieces of mince into balls and popped them into the pan - you need to do this quite quickly so they don't all cook at differnt times. When these were all in they start cooking quite quickly so keep them moving and let them brown and caramalise a little on each side.
While the meatballs were cooking I started on the sauce. I chopped a clove of garlic and some spring onions, and grated about two inches of fresh ginger. When the meatballs were done on each side I put them in a separate pan using a slotted spoon so that any fat or juice stayed in the pan. Then add all the sauce ingredients to the pan, with a star anise, and let them cook until soft adding extra oil if needed. Once they are soft add some soy sauce - and here I have a cheat - my cousin made some delicious plum sauce (I think stewed and strained plums). I'm not sure what else would work - maybe fresh plums, stoned and chopped? So with the plum sauce I let it all cook together until thick - it got a bit too sticky too quickly so I added a little stock (or use water) to thin it again.
Once the sauce was done I added the meatballs back into it, gave them a good stirr around so that they were all covered and piping hot all the way through. Then served with the rice, and a bit of Mango chutney just for fun!
And the Ant-O-Meter gives this dish......4 leaves! (That's out of five by the way.)
*Having had disasters with rice in the past I am pleased to say I have now perfected this bit of cookery! I tend to use 2/3 of a large ramakin of rice per person and a full ramakin of water per person. Bring to the boil quickly in the pan and turn to a low heat, and keep an eye on it. Another method I'm a big fan of is taking a pyrex dish with a lid and cooking the rice in that in the oven. The oven should be on about 180 degrees C, and I use the same quantities of rice as above - replacing the water with chicken or veg stock. This usually takes about 20 mins and is so handy if the oven is on anyway.
The mince had to be eaten first and it just so happened that I needed something quick on Monday night. So sticky plum and ginger meatballs it was! First I put some plain basmati rice on to cook.* I then put the mince in a bowl with a good amount of pepper, salt and ground ginger, and a crushed clove of garlic. Using hands I mashed and squidged this all together. Then put a frying pan on the heat, with some oil, I rolled small pieces of mince into balls and popped them into the pan - you need to do this quite quickly so they don't all cook at differnt times. When these were all in they start cooking quite quickly so keep them moving and let them brown and caramalise a little on each side.
While the meatballs were cooking I started on the sauce. I chopped a clove of garlic and some spring onions, and grated about two inches of fresh ginger. When the meatballs were done on each side I put them in a separate pan using a slotted spoon so that any fat or juice stayed in the pan. Then add all the sauce ingredients to the pan, with a star anise, and let them cook until soft adding extra oil if needed. Once they are soft add some soy sauce - and here I have a cheat - my cousin made some delicious plum sauce (I think stewed and strained plums). I'm not sure what else would work - maybe fresh plums, stoned and chopped? So with the plum sauce I let it all cook together until thick - it got a bit too sticky too quickly so I added a little stock (or use water) to thin it again.
Once the sauce was done I added the meatballs back into it, gave them a good stirr around so that they were all covered and piping hot all the way through. Then served with the rice, and a bit of Mango chutney just for fun!
And the Ant-O-Meter gives this dish......4 leaves! (That's out of five by the way.)
*Having had disasters with rice in the past I am pleased to say I have now perfected this bit of cookery! I tend to use 2/3 of a large ramakin of rice per person and a full ramakin of water per person. Bring to the boil quickly in the pan and turn to a low heat, and keep an eye on it. Another method I'm a big fan of is taking a pyrex dish with a lid and cooking the rice in that in the oven. The oven should be on about 180 degrees C, and I use the same quantities of rice as above - replacing the water with chicken or veg stock. This usually takes about 20 mins and is so handy if the oven is on anyway.
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